Chapter 4

Zoë gripped his left hand with her right hand. Horatio looked down at her hand around his, a little confused and then looked up to Zoë. Her face had drained of all colour and her breathing was heavy. She was unsteady on her feet and stumbled slightly.

"Ho…ratio" she said as she exhaled.

"Zoë? Zoë!" He said as he realised that she was just about to collapse. Her legs buckled and she began to fall with her eyes rolling back. In one smooth move Horatio managed to catch her with his right arm around her back and his left holding on to her waist. He picked her up, with his arm around her back and his left under her legs as he rushed over to the ambulance. One of the fire and rescue crew quickly took Zoë out of his arms and placed her on the floor on a ground sheet and called one of the paramedics over. The paramedic ran over whilst the other one made sure Ryan was okay.

"What happened?" He said as he ran over.

"She just collapsed, she went pale and then collapsed." Horatio said looking up to the paramedic worried.

The paramedic knelt down. "Okay, what's her name?" He asked.

"Zoë Chambers." Horatio replied quickly. The paramedic looked into her eyes.

"Does she have any known medical problems?"

"Just asthma" Horatio said looking down at Zoë.

"Did she say if she had any neck or back pain?"

"No, umm… she wouldn't admit to pain even if she had it anyway." Horatio said running his hand through his hair.

"Get me another spinal board, collar and blocks now please." The paramedic said to the fire crewmate, he returned with the items.

"I need some help over here please!" The paramedic called to the fire and rescue crew. They carefully moved her on to the spinal board and secured her.

"Let's get her in the ambulance." The paramedic said as they picked her up, Horatio was quick to follow. They opened Zoë's shirt and placed another set of ECG leads on her chest as they listened to her breathing.

"I'm going to follow in my hummer." Horatio said as one of the paramedics got out and closed the doors. Horatio ran over to his hummer and jumped in and followed the ambulance to the hospital.

He arrived with the ambulance and parked up. He got out and rushed over to the ambulance where both Ryan and Zoë were being unloaded. Nathan and Zak were waiting at the doors.

"Zak, you take Ryan, I've got Zoë." They both barked orders at the various team members. They were both taken through to resus where they were both deemed stable and then taken for full CT scans. Horatio waited in the waiting room again. He pulled out his phone and dialled for Eric.

"Eric?" Horatio asked.

"H, everything okay with Ryan?" Eric asked concerned.

"I'm not sure, they were both involved in a serious accident, they've both just been taken up for CT scans." Horatio said.

"Oh no, are they okay though?" Eric asked.

"I think so, they're in good hands, both of them had it bad though." Horatio said bluntly.

"I'll inform Alexx, do you want me to come over?" Eric asked.

"No, you need to stay there just in case there's a call out and I appreciate that, thank you Eric." Horatio said.

"Okay H, anything you need, you call okay? I'll be over later."

"Thank you Eric." Horatio said as he hung up. Once they were stable and had the scans finished, they were taken through into a double room and Nathan went to find Horatio.

"They're both stable, I'm just going to have a look at their CT scans and then I can let you know more. If you want to follow me, I'll take you through to them."

"Thank you Nathan, are they in the same room?" Horatio said as he followed Nathan.

"Yes, I thought they'd be more comfortable, I know they're going to be worried about each other when they wake up." Nathan said as he turned to Horatio.

"Have you sedated them?" Horatio asked.

"No, they are just unconscious, I'm hoping that they'll come around soon, they're probably going to be confused and may not remember what happened, as I say, I'll know more when I look at the scans." Nathan said as he opened the door. Horatio entered and looked at them both. They were both lying in the beds and looked asleep; both of them had wires attached to their chests and pulse oximeters on their fingers. The heart rates were at different times so the machines beeped at different intervals.

"I'll be back soon." Nathan said as he walked off. Horatio walked over and sat in the chair in the middle of the two beds and put his head in his hands.

Zoë's scream "RYAN!" radiated around his head, again and again. 'What could have possibly happened to cause this?!" Horatio asked himself still hearing her scream. He took a deep breath and lost himself in his thoughts. His phone then vibrated in his breast pocket and he answered.

"Horatio Caine." He answered as he rubbed his eyes with his other hand then realised he had dried blood on his hands. He exhaled.

"Horatio? It's Alexx, is everything alright? Eric told me what happened, how are they?" She asked

"Alexx, Nathan said that they're stable, he's just looking over their CT scans now." Horatio said as he leant on over with his elbows on his knees.

"Okay honey, how are you holding up?" She asked.

"I'm fine Alexx, just waiting to hear the news. They're both collared, boarded and unconscious." He said as he glanced at the both of them.

"That's probably just precautionary honey. Nathan will take good care of them. Don't worry honey." Alexx said calmly.

"You didn't see the hummer Alexx, it was a wreck, I'm surprised that they're even alive, I'm surprised that Zoë was able to look after Ryan!" Horatio said as he looked over to Zoë.

"Zoë what?"

"When I arrived, they were both unconscious, Zoë woke up and just took charge of the situation, she made sure Ryan was okay, she did the paramedics job for them!" Horatio said with a small smile knowing that that's just what Zoë would do.

"Well that's a very good sign Horatio."

"Yes, but then she just collapsed." He exhaled with the smile slowly disappearing.

"Okay honey, they're both going to be okay. I'll be over later, I need to go now. Hang in there Horatio." She said calmly.

"Thanks Alexx." Horatio said as they both hung up. Horatio put the phone in his trouser pocket and walked over to the en-suite and washed the blood off his hands. 'I don't even know who's blood this is…' He thought to himself before he walked out of the en-suite and glanced over to both Zoë and Ryan he then walked out when his impatience to find out whether they'd broken anything over took. He found Nathan sat at a computer looking over their CT scans. Nathan looked up at Horatio and gave him a gentle smile, he could see the Horatio was worried sick. "Ryan is completely unscathed, he doesn't have any breaks, he should be waking up soon – he has a concussion, but other than that he'll be okay – just a few cuts and bruises."

"And Zoë?" Horatio asked.

"I'm getting there." Nathan replied. "She has a small hairline fracture along her collarbone, it won't need surgery or to be reset, it's stable, it's just going to hurt her." Nathan said warmly and Horatio nodded as she glanced to the computer monitor and saw what looked like CT scans.

"She's going to be in a bit of discomfort and won't be able to use her arm too much, I'll put her in a sling which I know she'll love, but it'll heal nicely. She's also got a concussion and a few cuts and bruises, but she'll be okay." Nathan said with a gentle smile and then realised Horatio was staring at the screen.

"What's that?" Horatio asked as he pointed to the monitor. It was a zoomed in picture of Zoë's chest. Horatio knew it was Zoë's scans as it had her details on the screen too.

"What?" Nathan asked looking at the screen, just wishing he'd turned the monitor off, but Horatio had caught him by surprise.